Queer History | LGBTQ Oral History Digital Collaboratory

All posts filed under: Queer History

“histories ‘from below’”: A Conversation with Dr. Lucas Wilson

October 24, 2024

In this conversation with Dr. Lucas Wilson, a SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellow at University of Toronto Mississauga, we dive into his bold shift from Holocaust studies to queer history. Luke shares how his personal journey—from surviving conversion therapy at an evangelical university to embracing his queer identity—now fuels his groundbreaking research into white Christian nationalism and its impact on LGBTQ+ communities, offering a powerful voice against oppressive systems.

“Bisexual History is Queer History”: A Conversation with Gabryelle Iaconetti

August 28, 2024

by Alisha Stranges

Academia / Activist Histories / Bisexual History / Collaboratory News / Queer History

Meet Gabryelle Iaconetti, a passionate historian dedicated to preserving the rich and often overlooked narratives of bisexual activism in Canada. From their journey into queer history during the pandemic to her doctoral research on bisexual support groups in smaller Ontario cities, Gabryelle's work reveals the powerful connection between bisexual history and queer history. Explore the unexpected joys of oral history and discover how tangible pieces of Toronto’s past have deepened her research.

Gender/Fucking: A conversation with Dr. Florence Ashley

August 14, 2024

by Chris Aino Pihlak

Academia / Collaboratory News / Queer Affect / Queer History / Trans History

Gender/Fucking: The Pleasures and Politics of Living in a Gendered Body is as bold and unclassifiable as its author. Blending poetry, erotica, personal reflections, and critical essays on transness, queer community, and the challenges of surviving under capitalism, this book is a must-read for anyone who lives in a body. Join Collaboratory friend Chris Aino Pihlak (she/her) as she sits down with the book’s author, Florence Ashley (they/them/that bitch), for a candid and far-reaching discussion on the book’s themes, and the experience of being a trans femme academic in 2024.

Nancy Irwin At Home: An Interview with an Icon

July 31, 2024

by Atticus Hawk

Activist Histories / Community-based Oral History / Kink Cultures / Lesbian History / Oral History / Queer History / The Gays Did What Now?

Nancy Irwin is the dyke you read about in queer history classes and the woman you always wished had a hand in raising you. World traveller, biker, writer, raconteur extraordinaire; Nancy sits down with The Gays Did What Now? for a tender reminiscence of dyke life in 1980s Toronto and her first girlfriend, the “very experienced lesbian,” Shirley. Listen to the audio or read the transcript for a riveting story of Nancy before she was the international dyke icon she is today.

Pride Toronto 2024: The Accessibility Information You REALLY Want

June 26, 2024

by Atticus Hawk

Digitization / Disability / Queer History / The Gays Did What Now?

Calling all disabled dandies, handicapped homos and crippy queers; it’s Pride in Toronto! Time to get nasty with it and whip out our big, fat, throbbing media literacy degrees to scour the Pride Toronto™ website for any shreds of accessibility information we can actually use. Read on for all the accessibility information you need to know and bask in our homemade, screen-reader-compatible Bare Minimum Accessibility Map: Pride Toronto 2024 Edition!

Crip Orgies: cum’on everybody!

May 29, 2024

by Atticus Hawk

Activist Histories / Disability / Kink Cultures / Queer History / The Gays Did What Now?

You ever seen a wheelchair user fuck harder than the best porn stars in Vegas? How about the hardcore harness fetishists losing it over the straps of a hydraulic sling lift? Ever considered the implications of the condom catheter X leg bag situation as the ultimate power move in watersports? In 2015, disability activists Andrew Gurza and Stella Palikarova embraced it all with Deliciously Disabled, an accessible, sex-positive party held at the iconic Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, right in the heart of Toronto’s Gay Village. But why there and when can we get tickets for the next one?